Woe to you Pharisees (and each one of us!)

The Gospel Reading for today's Bridegroom Matins service (Matthew 22:15-46; 23:1-39) shows Jesus condemning the scribes and Pharisees of a long list of sins.  Archimandrite Papavassillou reminds us in his book 'Meditations for Holy Week' that this isn't directed solely on the Pharisees.  These sins are found in us today.  Are we so different than the Pharisees?  Are we free from these sins?  Let us repent of our sins so that we are found ready for the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have included a snippet of his book here.  

"We may be tempted to think, "If I had been alive at the time of Jesus, "I would have been one of His followers, not one of His condemners."  But can we be so sure?  We often praise saints who lived hundreds of years ago for their austerity, their love of the poor, their condemnation of wealth and worldly pleasures.  But when people of our own day condemn sin, we accuse them of being fanatics...when they discourage worldly ways, we mock them as pastorally insensitive, unsociable, backward, and naive.  It is easy to praise the words of saints we have never met when we think their rebukes were aimed at others, but when someone here and now points out our own sins, it's a whole other sotry. 

The sad truth that this litany of woes invites us to face up to is this:  I am a Pharisee!  For we Christians are often guilty of the religious hypocrisy our Lord condemns...Only when we cast off the linkers of pride that blind us to the fact that we are the cold-hearted and self-righteous hypocrites of the Gospels, whom we so relish mocking and condemning, will we be able to recognize as Lord and God Him who is "gentle and lowly of heart" (Matt.11:29).  Only then can we proclaim, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matt. 23:39)."

Why are you taking this soul away from us?

St. Niphont had the beneficial gift of seeing the spiritual world as clearly and well as we see physical objects.  One day he went to church to pray.  There the heavens above him opened, the roof of the temple disappeared, and he saw a road which led from the earth to the heavens.  On this road angels were carrying the soul of a deceased man, and the demons crowded behind them, calling:

"Why are you taking this soul away from us?  Or do you not know that, while living on earth, he was guilty of lewdness, robbery, and avarice?  He is guilty of all kinds of sins!"

"We know!" answered the angels.  "We know that this soul is very sinful, but we also know that he cried a lot for his sins and, before his death, confessed them.  THat is why the merciful and compassionate Lord forgave him all sins."

"But if even this soul has received pardon from God," yelled the demons, "then take to yourselves all sinners.  Why are we laboring then?"

"Remember," answered the angels, "that all sinners who confess their sins with a broken heart receive pardon from God.  But whoever dies without repenting, him God will condemn to eternal torment with you!"

[From 'The Forgotten Medicine: the Mystery of Repentance' by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev, (c) 1994 (original account found in 'Lives of the Saints' (of St. Dimitry of Rostov)]

Check out the rest of the book 'The Forgotten Medicine: the Mystery of Repentance', by Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev!

Lenten (Vegan) Cross Pull-Apart Cupcake Cake (Great for Baptisms, Chrismations or other celebrations during Lent)

Last weekend, some friends of ours from church had their last Sunday there before moving.  To wish them many years and to let them know that we will miss them, I made a Lenten cake for them.  It was a pull-apart cupcake-cake in the shape of a cross.  I enjoyed making it and figured I would share how I made it (and how to veganize the cake) for anyone else who needs to make something like it.

Lenten pull-apart cupcake-cake shaped in a cross

Since I was unavailable to bake the cake over the weekend, I needed to do it during the week.  In light of this, I took a shortcut with making the cake, and used a veganized recipe of the Duncan Hines Butter Cake and Devil's Food cake.  Surprisingly, Duncan Hines cake mixes are vegan! 

The recipe for the devil's food cake calls for eggs, oil and water.  I followed the directions exactly, with the exception of replacing the eggs with EnerG egg replacer (4.5 t powder plus 1/4 C warm water whisked).  Beyond replacing the eggs with the egg replacer, I followed the directions exactly.  Mix it all up, bake it for 20 minutes in a cupcake tin, remove, and cool.  Simple!

The Butter Golden cake was equally easy, though there was one extra substitution.  The ingredients replaced were eggs and butter.  You can follow the same replacement instructions for the eggs (4.5 t powder plus 1/4 C and 2 T warm water whisked).  I used Earth Balance baking sticks for the butter.  Again, mix it, bake it 20 minutes, remove and cool.

Finally, it needed a good icing.  I didn't want it to be a pure shortening 'butter'cream icing as it often sticks to the top of your mouth.  On the same token, since I am decorating the cake, I needed an icing firm enough to be using as decorator's frosting.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

I found a very tasty recipe online from Isa Chandra's Cupcakes Take Over the World.  I didn't follow it exactly though.  You can find the original recipe here.  My adaptations were to skip the soy milk (I don't really like the taste - and I wanted a firmer icing).  I used the amount of confectioners sugar listed in the recipe and added small amounts of water until it was the desired consistency.

Once I completed the first batch of icing (I needed approximately 4 batches for 120 cupcakes total), I added enough water to allow it to be easily piped for cupcakes.  If I had my cupcake piping tips available (or a piping bag for that matter), I would have used them.  Since they were all at another location, I ended up using common things found in every kitchen - a gallon size bag, a cup, and scissors!

I put the corner of the sandwich size Ziploc bag in a tall cup, spooned in the icing, closed the bag while removing the air, and snipped the corner of the bag.  I then used it to create a nice little swirl on top of the cupcakes (I found a tutorial on YouTube for anyone who wants to actually see it done - though you can just use the gallon size bag instead of the piping tools they show).  I piped the swirls on top of all the cupcakes that were not included in the pull-apart cupcake-cake.  We arranged these cupcakes around the cross.

Template for Cross Cupcake-Cake
cupcake placement

For the cross pull-apart cake, I wanted to create the shape of the Greek Orthodox cross.  I ended up frosting (quickly) and using 40  whole cupcakes and about 4 cupcakes with about 1/4 cut off one side.  I created the template shown in the image for anyone who wants the break-out of how the cupcakes are placed.  Each end of the cross has a cupcake with 1/4 piece cut off the end.

When I started laying out the cross I noticed that it was way too big for any of my normal cake boards.  I got creative and used a flattened cardboard box covered with aluminum foil.  Not the sturdiest, but it worked.

Once the frosted cupcakes were placed in the shape of the cross, I filled in the holes in the cupcakes with frosting from another batch of buttercream.  I made sure it was firm enough to hold, but thin enough that I could spread it.  I added some more icing and spread it as flat as I could.  I used a Wilton cake smoothing tool, but it isn't required.

Once you have a flat iced cross, you get to be creative :) I recommend at least piping around the edge - makes it look a lot neater.  If you don't have piping tools, you could use the same technique I described with the cupcakes above only making little balls of piped icing.  Otherwise, any border technique would work well.  I used fondant for the sash and piped the message with buttercream icing.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  It's my first cake tutorial, so if you have questions, please ask!  I hope that this can help others when a cake is needed for church!

Confession and Repentance in the Orthodox Church (Fifth Week of Great Lent)

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 
  
As we complete the 5th week of Great Lent, we know full well by now that we have been focusing on the process of repentance: our turning away from our sins and turning to God with contrition and firm purpose of amendment of life.  The Church has kept this fresh in our minds, as we have gone to Pre-Sanctified Liturgy and the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete this past week. Also, this weekend, we shall hear the great story of St. Mary of Egypt, a former harlot who repented with tremendous tears and extreme fasting through which she attained holy purity and is now a model for all Christians of how we should repent and completely surrender ourselves entirely to God. Our Lord made clear that repentance is the essence of Christian life.

Christ exhorted His faithful to repent from the very beginning of His ministry (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15). Jesus said multiple times that we must repent otherwise we shall perish (Luke 13:3, 5). The Apostles taught repentance is necessary for forgiveness of sins and eternal life (Mark 6:12; Acts 2:38, 3:19, 8:22, 17:30, 26:20). We see in the Scriptures that the Church is called to continual repentance by Christ Himself (Rev. 2:5, 2:16, 2:21-22, 3:3, 3:19).  
  
From reading the Old Testament, specifically the Torah (Pentateuch), we learn that God’s covenant people repented of their sins through God-ordained means of sacrifice and confessing their sins through the intercession of the priest. Hear the word of the LORD in Leviticus 5:5-6:  

“When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.”  

Again, in Numbers 5:5-7: 

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that mean commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty, he shall confess his sin which he has committed…” 

We know that in Christ our Lord, everything of the Old Covenant is transformed and fulfilled (Matt. 5:17). So if God ordained His covenant people confess their sins with a sacrifice through the intercession of the priest for forgiveness of sins in the Old Covenant, how would God bring about fulfillment of this divine mandate through Jesus in the New Covenant? 

In order to see how Jesus fulfilled this sacred rite of the Old Covenant, we have to first read the story of the healing of the paralytic in the Gospel.  In this scene, we see Jesus’ personal forgiveness of sins, which is what we experience in the Church. Let’s hear the Gospel in order to begin to grasp the significance of Jesus’ words and actions: 

“He said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, ‘Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—He said to the paralytic—‘I say to you, take up your pallet and go home.’ – Mark 2:5-11 

Jesus, the Son of God, has authority on earth to forgive sins. We learn from this passage God the Father granted God the Son (the Son of Man) authority to forgive sins on earth. Did Jesus keep all this authority all to Himself, or did He possibly share this authority to forgive sins on earth? 

It is in fact that Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession (Repentance) as the means of grace for the Christian faithful to continually return to God and receive His personal forgiveness throughout our lives.  Jesus shared this authority to forgive sins on earth with His Apostles in a personal, practical way. If we have any doubt about this, consider our Lord’s words in the Gospels of Matthew and John: 

Jesus to His Apostles: “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” – Matthew 18:18 

Jesus to His Apostles, after His Resurrection: “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” – John 20:21-23 

These words show that Jesus gave His Apostles the authority to forgive sins and that if they forgave sins; God forgave them (it was understood that by the Apostles forgiving sins, God was forgiving sins in and through the Apostles on earth). And this authority was not limited to the Apostles alone, it was also given to their successors, down to the present day; consider the following verses: 

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess you trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much.” – James 5:14-16 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9 

By Jesus’ sharing of His authority with His Apostles and their successors, the Son of Man continues His authority on earth to forgive sins. Jesus’ power to forgive sins on earth continues to this present day through His Apostles and their successors. But who are the Apostles’ successors? The Elders of the Church—Priests. We confess our sins to God in the way He ordained through Jesus Christ—to the priest. This is because Jesus ordained His Apostles as priests of the New Covenant. We see Jesus ordaining His Apostles as priests in the institution of the Eucharist when He told them to “Do this in memory of Me.” We know this because the Eucharist is first and foremost, a sacrifice. The Eucharist is the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Jesus’ live-giving Passion began in the upper room and was completed on the Cross. By Jesus consecrating bread into His Body and wine into His Blood, we see the essence of sacrifice—the separation of body and blood. Also the words “broken” and “poured out” are words of libation, of oblation—sacrifice. These words are words that would only be uttered in the context of a sacrifice, hence we can know that by Jesus instituting the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and telling His Apostles to continue to offer the sacrifice of the New Covenant—this clearly shows that the Apostles were ordained as priests of the New Covenant at the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus shares His High Priesthood with His Apostles. Remember, in the Old Covenant, priests didn’t just offer sacrifice, but they also mediated between God and men so that the faithful’s sins would be forgiven when the faithful confessed their sins. So if the Apostles were priests, that necessitates that their successors be priests as well—elders of the Church. The term for “elder” in the Greek is:  

“Presbuterous, which literally means ‘elders,’ but which is the root of the English word priest [. Referring back to the passage in the Epistle of James we looked at earlier in this newsletter] Whenever you see the word therefore in Scripture, you have to ask yourself what it’s there for. In [the passage quoted from the Epistle of James], James is clearly setting the practice of confession in connection with the priest’s healing ministry…Note that St. James does not exhort his congregation to confess their sins to Jesus alone; nor does He tell them to confess their sins silently, in their hearts. They may do all these things, and all to their credit, but they will not yet be faithful to the word of God preached by St. James—not until they confess their sins to ‘another,’ and specifically to a presbyter, a priest.” (Scott Hahn Lord Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession) 

Church history is remarkably clear that confession was a Sacrament always practiced by the Church from the beginning. Listen to the Diadache (written between 50-110 A.D.): 

“Thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the Church.” – Diadache 4:14 

“On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, first confessing your sins, so that your sacrifice may be pure.” – Didache 14:1 

The phrases “breaking bread” and “giving thanks” (in Greek, eucharistesate) are clear ancient references to the Eucharist, Holy Communion. Also note how “breaking bread,” “giving thanks,” and “sacrifice” are all linked together. This is some of the earliest clearest evidence we have of the Church’s theology of the Eucharist as a sacrifice, not just a memorial service. So therefore, from the very first days of the Church, Christians would first make sure they confessed their sins to the priest and received forgiveness through the mediation of the priests before they would partake of Holy Communion. Through His Church, Jesus continues to share His authority of earth to forgive sins, because He is forever our High Priest. Through the priests, Jesus exercises His High Priestly ministry, offering sacrifice and forgiving sins—in fulfillment of the Old Covenant. 

St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing around 105-110 A.D. states: “To all those who repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God and to communion with the bishop” (Epistle to the Philadelphians 8:1). And again, “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Epistle to the Philadelphians 3:2). These quotes demonstrate that the Church understood that sin not only separates us from God, but also from His covenant people, the Church. Therefore, by receiving forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Confession, the faithful are reunited to full communion with the Church, and hence are admitted to the Eucharist—Holy Communion. 

St. Cyprian of Carthage, writing in the mid 200’s A.D. says the following:  

“I entreat you, beloved brethren, that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while the satisfaction and remission made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord. Let us turn to the Lord with our whole heart, and, expressing our repentance for our sin with true grief, let us entreat God’s mercy...” 

Origen, around 250 A.D: 

“wrote of the ‘remission of sins through penance…when the sinner…is not ashamed to make known his sin to the priest of the Lord and to seek a cure according to the one who says, ‘I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’; then you forgave the guilt of my sin’” (Psalm 32:5 MT). (Scott Hahn Lord Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession) 

St. Basil the Great, in the fourth century A.D: 

“Confessing of sins must be made to those to whom the dispensing of God’s sacraments has been committed.” 

St. Ambrose of Milan in the late 300’s A.D: 

“Christ granted this power to the Apostles, and from the Apostles, it has been transmitted to the office of the priests alone.” 

St. John Chrysostom in either the late 300’s or early 400’s: 

“Priests have received a power which God has not given either to angels or to archangels…they are able to forgive our sins.” 

The practice of confessing sins in the presence of the priest for receiving forgiveness of sins is as old as the Scriptures, yet why do we run away from this precious gift of God?  Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky states in his book Orthodox Dogmatic Theology:  

“In the Mystery of Repentance [Sacrament of Confession] the spiritual afflictions of a man are treated, impurities of soul are removed, and a Christian, having received forgiveness of sins, again becomes innocent and sanctified, just as he came out of the waters of Baptism.” 

St. Theophan the Recluse teaches us that: 

“In the Sacrament… of Confession the Lord enters into man by His grace, vividly establishes communion with him, and gives him to taste of all the sweetness of the Divine…” 

Pascha is right around the corner, we can sense it in the change of the weather,  and in the hymns sung at Church, but are we preparing for this “Holy Day of Holy Days?” The Church exhorts us to make sure we make a good, saving confession before Pascha, so that we may fully partake in the Resurrection of Christ without condemnation. Let us wait no longer, let us run to our father-confessors and ask them to hear our confessions with tears and true contrition, so that we may receive the fullness of God’s blessings He offers to us in His Holy Pascha. Amen. 

Further Readings and Reflections...
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/shepherd_of_souls/confession_is_necessary_for_the_soul  
A podcast that explains that sacramental confession offers us the assurance that we are forgiven by God. 
  
 http://www.antiochian.org/content/confession-healing-sacrament  
An article explaining the healing we experience in the Sacrament of Confession and hence, why we need this Sacrament so very much! 

St. John Climacus (Fourth Week of Great Lent)

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

  

 

It is hard to believe that we are already completing the fourth week of Lent! As we draw closer to Pascha, the Church encourages us to self-reflect, on ourselves and on our efforts, through the commemoration of St. John Climacus (of the Ladder) on the fourth Sunday of Lent. A monk of the Eastern Church in The Year of the Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church says that St. John Climacus is “the ideal of penitence on which we should fix our eyes during Lent.”

 

The Ladder of Divine Ascent is well known by Orthodox everywhere, a classic written by St. John to monks in the seventh century on living the truly ascetic life.  The book is written in “steps,” thirty steps in particular, to correspond to the years of Christ when He began His public ministry. The image of “ladder” is used as a metaphor of the soul’s ascent to God drawn from Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28. While we may not all be monks in the seventh century context in which the book was written, that doesn’t prevent the truths of this spiritual treasure to apply to us in every aspect of our lives. Just listen to St. John Climacus in his Step 5 on repentance: 

 

Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life...Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair...Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience. Repentance is the voluntary endurance of all afflictions...Repentance is...a striking of the soul into vigorous awareness. 

 

St. John Climacus reminds us that in our process of repentance (and in our journey through Great Lent), that we must be careful not to fool ourselves, thinking we are on track, when in reality, we may be off the course. St. John Climacus in his Step 2 states the following: 

 

Let us pay close attention to ourselves so that we are not deceived into thinking that we are following the straight and narrow way, when in actual fact we are keeping to the wide and broad way... 

 

St. John Climacus teaches us that fasting helps us to walk the straight and narrow way of Christ (Matt. 7:14) in his Step 14: 

  

Fasting is the coercion of nature and the cutting out of everything that delights the palate, the excision of lust, the uprooting of bad thoughts, deliverance from incontinence in dreams, purity of prayer, the light of the soul, the guarding of the mind, deliverance from blindness, the door of compunction...a guard of obedience, lightening of sleep, health of body...remission of sins, the gate of Paradise and its delight. 

 

It seems so fitting that the Church, in the beginning of the fifth week of Lent, draws our attention to this holy ascetic, because truly Lent becomes more difficult as we continue through its dessert. We are reminded of why we are fasting and praying more fervently in this holy season. By reading St. John Climacus’ The Ladder of Divine Ascent, we are reminded how miniscule our fasting may be in comparison to ancient monastics, yet God accepts our efforts in His mercy. We are reminded that our fasting must be linked with putting off the old man (our sins) and putting on the new man (Christ, His way of life) and prayer, in order to be fruitful. We are encouraged to continue to endure, through persistent prayer and fasting that we have been doing throughout Lent, because as a monk of the Eastern Church states: 

 

Prayer and fasting, in the deepest sense, mean[s] a radical renunciation of self, a concentration of one’s soul in an attitude of trust and humility which leaves all to the mercy of God, the submission of our will to the will of the Lord, placing our whole being in the hands of the Father.  

 

Pascha is fast approaching, the Day of the Lord is at hand; are we ready to greet Him when He comes?  The Church, in the fourth Sunday of Lent, urges us to have an honest self-inventory on ourselves at this point of the Fast, so that we may have renewed zeal to finish strong, to persevere to the end, so that, through adhering to the wise counsel of St. John Climacus’ teachings and through genuine, heart-felt repentance, we may strive to be properly prepared for Christ when He comes for His Bride (the Church), at Holy Pascha. Amen.

 

 

Further Readings and Reflections...

http://www.ancientfaith.com/announcements/4th_sunday_st._john_of_the_ladder A podcast on the application of The Ladder of Divine Ascent teachings to us non-monastics by Fr. Thomas Hopko.   http://lent.goarch.org/saint_john_climacus/learn/ An article on the life of St. John Climacus   http://orthodoxwiki.org/The_Ladder_of_Divine_Ascent An article on the Ladder of Divine Ascent

Sunday of the Cross (Third Week of Great Lent)

Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

As we come to the end of the third week of Lent, the Church reminds us that before we can reach the unending joy of Pascha, we first have to go through the Cross (with all that it implicates). We know this because not only did our Lord go through it, but He taught that we must do the same thing, if we are to truly be His disciples and together with Him and through Him, enter into the joy of the Kingdom of God. Listen to what the Holy Scriptures say about the Cross:

 

Then Jesus said unto His disciples, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34)

 

And he said to them all, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23)

 

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."(Mark 10:21)

 

"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27)

 

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor. 1:18)

 

"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal. 6:14)

 

"And being found in human form, He humbled Himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross." (Phl. 2:8)

 

"For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." (Col. 1:19-20)

 

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God." (Heb. 12:1-2)

 

With all these quotes from Scripture in mind, Fr. Alexander Schmemann from his beautiful book Great Lent: Journey to Pascha, reminds us well, that: "we cannot take up our cross and follow Christ unless we have His Cross which He took up in order to save us. It is His Cross, not ours, that saves us."  The last quote from the Epistle to the Hebrews captures what the Church is trying to teach us in the third Sunday of Lent; that we must go through the way of the Cross, but not in vain, in order to reach Pascha. We don't fast aimlessly; we don't bear our crosses without purpose. We don't struggle to live the Gospel in our everyday lives without reason. The Christian life always begins with the end in mind. The hope of Pascha gives us the foundation and strength we need to persevere through the way of the Cross, to arrive into the joy of Pascha. Listen to the hymns we sing at Vigil:

 

Shine, O Cross of the Lord!

Illumine the hearts of those who honor you!

With love inspired by God, we embrace you,

for you are the only hope of the world.

Through you our tears are wiped away,

the snares of death are sprung,

and we pass over into everlasting joy.

Through the Cross reveal Your beauty to us, O Lord!

Help Your servants who ask for mercy in faith!

Bestow upon us the fruits of abstinence! 

 

Rejoice, O life-bearing Cross:

bright paradise of the Church, the tree of incorruption!

You have obtained for us the joy of everlasting glory.

Through you, the hosts of demons are driven out;

the choirs of Angels are amazed and rejoice;

the company of the faithful gathers in celebration.

O unconquerable weapon, unbroken stronghold,

triumph of Orthodox Christians and pride of priests,

by following you may we witness the Passion and Resurrection of Christ

our God! 

 

Beholding You, the Fashioner and Creator of all, hanging naked on the Cross,

all creation was changed with fear and lamented.

The sun withdrew its light, and the earth quaked;

the rocks were rent, and the splendor of the Temple was torn asunder.

The dead rose out of their graves, and the hosts of Angels were amazed, saying:

Oh the wonder!

The Judge is judged and suffers,

desiring this for the salvation and renewal of the world.

The climax of the Vigil of the Veneration of the Cross takes place when the Priest comes out in glorious procession with the Cross and places it in the middle of the Church. Shortly after, the faithful come to venerate the precious Cross. A monk of the Eastern Church in The Year of the Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural and Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church reflects soberly on the holy veneration of the Cross:

 

Am I ready to follow Jesus, bearing my cross? (Not the cross that I may choose, but the one that He places on my shoulders.) Am I ready to accept all the trials or sufferings which may come to me, as sharing in the Cross of my Saviour? When, in due course, it is my turn to come and place a kiss on the cross which is displayed in the middle of the Church, will my kiss be that of an unrepentant sinner, the kiss of Judas, or will it be a gesture which is respectful and superficial, but changes nothing in my life, or will it be a sign of adoration, of faith, and of tenderness which will be binding on my whole life?

 

May our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ grant us all renewed strength through His holy Cross, in order to persevere through the remainder of Lent faithfully, to come to His Holy Pascha! Amen.

Further Reading

 

http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/mysterion/people_of_the_cross

 

A podcast about what it means to be a person of the Cross

http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/voicefromisles/venerating_the_cross_of_christ

 

A podcast on the 3rd Sunday of Lent

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sunday_of_the_Holy_Cross

 

An article on the 3rd Sunday on Lent

http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/03/23/14-3rd-sunday-of-great-lent-veneration-of-the-cross

 

Another article on the Sunday of the Cross in Great Lent

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (Second Week of Great Lent)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we finish the 2nd week of Lent, I would like to focus on a service that is peculiar to this holy season—the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

It is a beautiful Liturgy, one only celebrated during the Great Fast. There is much history to this service, and while we don't have the space to go into great detail on every aspect of it, I'd like to briefly touch upon a few things to meditate on from this wonderful gift of the Church.

1.) The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts teaches us to completely depend upon God.

Consider the words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann from his book "Great Lent: Journey to Pascha":

"Holy Communion is the fulfillment of all our efforts, the goal toward which we strive, the ultimate joy of our Christian life, it is also and of necessity the source and beginning of our spiritual effort itself, the divine gift which makes it possible for us to know, to desire, and to strive for a 'more perfect communion in the day without evening' of God's Kingdom."

As my own parish priest said to us at the beginning of Lent last year, "Cling to the altar." This is what we do as Orthodox Christians. We realize that the beginning of our spiritual life, the struggle of our spiritual life, and the consummation of our spiritual life depends upon our oneness with the Eternal Triune Godhead, which is made possible through the Sacraments of the Church. And our spiritual life is most nourished above all through the Sacrament of Sacraments, the Sacrament of the Kingdom to Come (which is made present in and through the Church)--the Eucharist.

The Church realizes that fasting is not easy, it is a struggle, but she does not ask us to do this alone, without her help. The Church does not ask of us that which is impossible. As the Gospel of Matthew records, through Christ "all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). Fasting is possible, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Church realizes this, and therefore makes frequent Holy Communion available for us during Lent, so that we may be strengthened and nourished by Christ Himself, and be given everything that is necessary for us not only to complete the Fast faithfully, but to grow in continued holiness and repentance to arrive at Pascha with purity of heart.

2.) The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts teaches us how to pray.

This beautiful Liturgy teaches us to pray the most familiar prayer of Great Lent--the prayer of St. Ephraim of Syria. The prayer goes something like,

"O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle-talking, give me not. (prostration) But rather a spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant. (prostration) Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen. (prostration)"
Not only that, but throughout the Liturgy, all the faithful, together with the Priest and other orders of clergy prostrate themselves before Christ numerous times. The prayer of St. Ephraim is experienced in action in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in a special way. In the book, "The Year of the Grace of the Lord: A Scriptural & Liturgical Commentary on the Calendar of the Orthodox Church" a monk of the Eastern Church says the following on this holy prayer:

"This prayer sums up all that is essential in spiritual life. A Christian who used it constantly, who nourished himself from it during Lent, would be at the simplest and best school. Even someone who restricted himself to repeating and meditating on these words, 'Lord and Master of my life,' would enter deeply into the reality of the relationship between God and the soul, the soul and its God."

3.) The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts reminds us that we are pilgrims journeying toward the Promised Land of the Kingdom.

Just as the Israelites were nourished with the heavenly manna during their exodus to the Promised Land, so also the Church is nourished by the real heavenly bread, the true bread that comes down from heaven, Christ Himself, as she journeys through the desert of this world. The Church remembers the story of the Exodus of the people of God through the Old Testament readings during Lent and this helps us understand that we too, as the Church, are pilgrimaging towards our heavenly homeland, but we do not do this alone, God provides for us with the greatest gift He could ever give the world--Himself.

Through reading the Old Testament, we are reminded that we are journeying towards the day without evening--Pascha, the Day of the Lord. Jesus came to establish a New Covenant, a New Passover, and a New Exodus. This is experienced in the prayers of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. We feel that we are journeying, we repeatedly partake of the New Covenant Passover Lamb, though we grow tired, and weary. Yet we continue journeying towards the Promised Land, trusting in the promises of God, sustained through continuous reception of the true manna from heaven, Jesus Himself (John 6). Listen to the prayer the Priest prays before the Ambo at the end of the Presanctified Liturgy; it is worth quoting at length:

"O Almighty Master, Who in wisdom hast fashioned all creation; Who, through Thine ineffable providence and great goodness, hast led us to these all-revered days for purification of souls and bodies, for the restraint of passions, and for hope of the Resurrection; Who, during the forty days, didst put into the hands of Thy servant Moses the tablets in letters divinely inscribed: Grant unto us also, O Good One, to fight the good fight, to complete the course of the Fast, to preserve the Faith undivided, to crush the heads of invisible serpents, to be shown to be conquerors of sins and, without condemnation, also to attain unto and worship the holy Resurrection. For blessed and glorified is Thine all-honorable and majestic Name..."
May we take advantage of this wonderful gift the Church gives us during Lent. Let us see the great treasure that this holy service is that the Church gives us for our nourishment and sustainment during the Fast. May God grant that we may more worthily frequently receive Holy Communion in this beautiful penitential service of the Church to help us journey towards the Feast of Feasts, the Day of New Creation, the Day of everlasting joy--Pascha!